Diaspora: after Caspar David Friedrich

This work is part of ‘Fragile Littoral: Europa’, an ongoing series conceived as an essay on fragile states attempting to ‘view’ Europe from its liminal boundaries - from the placelessness between coastal edge and actual ocean constituting a ‘beyond’ that remains proximal. Heavily influenced by Bourke’s research in Japan, particularly in its adoption of an aesthetics of impermanence, its thematic ‘roots’ are in the earlier ‘Spa’ series (1992-2000), ‘Dark Bride’ (1998), ‘Dogde’ (2001) and ‘Bird Flying Empty Sky’ (2002).

‘Diaspora: after Caspar David Friedrich’ responds to the term ‘diaspora’ as it relates to a European context. Imagery alludes, in part, to Friedrich’s ‘Woman at a Window’ and makes oblique reference to manifestations of cultural diaspora and individual yearning. It continues Bourke’s ongoing preoccupation with fragility and appearance/disappearance, and the ‘slippage’ between lyrical sensuality and disturbance. It departs from other recent work in its overt use of artifice: much of the imagery is CGI generated.